In Good Hands
by StudentNurse18
Summary: Lucas gets sick before the semi-finals! Haley takes care of him. General friendship fluff


_Hey y'all, it's CollegeStatus18 here. I haven't been on here in a really long time and I had forgotten the email address and password I used to I had to reregister my account, but anyways. I have a new story posted below, takes place in the beginning of season 3, before the school shooting and technically Brooke is dating Lucas, but this is a friendship fic between Haley and Lucas because I like their friendship._

The alarm clock beeped loudly, echoing through Lucas Scott's bedroom, flashing the time, 7:00 am, in big, red, bold numbers. Lucas groaned as he rolled over and slapped the top of the beeping clock to turn it off. He was exhausted, which wasn't surprising, seeing as he had stayed up until almost 3:00 am reading _Moby Dick._ He couldn't prolong the inevitable forever, so he rolled out of bed and began to get ready for class.

As he headed into the kitchen, he saw a note on the counter from his mom saying she and Keith would be out of town until tomorrow evening and that she was sorry that they would miss his big game. He had to shake off the slight feeling of disappointment that came over him as he realized that his two biggest fans wouldn't be there to watch him play in the semi-finals tomorrow night.

He got in his car, remembering that he had to pick Haley up on the way to school. She and Nathan were beginning to talk and work things out again, but they still weren't living together, nor did they typically ride to school together. Lucas honked the horn as he pulled into a spot in front of Brooke and Haley's apartment. He was too tired to climb up to their apartment and meet her at the door. Nobody came out so he honked the horn a few more times, and finally Brooke emerged from the apartment and screamed "What? What do you want? Whoever's honking, cut it out, there are people trying to sleep!"

Lucas snickered and hollered up, "A lovely good morning to you too, Brooke Davis!"

Brooke scowled and shouted down to him, "What do you want?"

"I came to pick up Haley."

"She left with Nathan about ten minutes ago."

Lucas rolled his eyes. Haley had asked him to pick her up, but he figured it was a good thing that she and Nathan were working their problems out. "Would you like a ride to school?" Lucas yelled back up.

Brooke smiled and yelled that she would be down in fifteen minutes. Lucas once again rolled his eyes, knowing that Brooke was probably going to be at least thirty minutes, but he settled into his seat and turned the radio up. Before he knew it, Brooke was tapping on his window. He had fallen asleep waiting for her. At least she had hurried—they would still make it in plenty of time to get to class.

He sat up and let Brooke in and they took off for school. "Somebody's tired this morning," Brooke commented.

"I stayed up too late." Lucas replied offhandedly.

"Oh. What book was it this time? _A Tale of Two Cities? Julius Caesar? Romeo and Juliet?"_ She smirked, she knew how caught up Lucas could get in his readings.

" _Moby Dick_ , actually." Lucas was too tired to continue their banter, and so the rest of the ride was mostly in silence.

The beginning of the day went by in a blur. He had fallen asleep in fourth period political science and woke up when the bell rang with a raging headache. He winced softly at the excruciatingly loud bell and dragged himself to honors English, which he had with Haley.

"Haley James Scott! Oh my God! I thought something terrible had happened to you!" Lucas jokingly ran up to her and gave her a hug. His head was still aching something fierce, but if he didn't act as close to normal as possible Haley would worry about him. He knew she was already worried about his HCM, he didn't need her to worry about his health, too.

Haley rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry I forgot to tell you Nathan called this morning asking if he could pick me up."

"How are things going between you two?" Lucas asked as he released her from the hug. Concern flashed through his eyes.

"Better, I think we're going to be okay. We just need some time." She answered truthfully. She really did believe they just needed some time.

They took their seats as the teacher went up to the board and started lecturing on _The Catcher in the Rye._ Lucas had to fight hard to stay awake. He had long since read the book, so the lesson was more of a review for him. He knew that if he put his head down Haley would probably lecture him for falling asleep in class, so he settled for just resting his head on his propped-up arm. It was a long and boring class, s0 he was more than happy when the bell rang, dismissing him to basketball practice.

He didn't know if it was the smell of the locker room or something in the air, but something was bothering his nose. " _Huhh'EHSHhhoo!_ " He sniffled as he finished lacing up his shoes and ran into the gym, following his teammates. Whitey wasn't in the best of moods today. He seemed a bit stressed with tomorrow being the semi-finals, especially since it was his last season, and he really wanted to bring home the state title. They ran and did drills for the majority of the practice, making sure to stay out of the way of the cheerleaders who were practicing on the sidelines. It wasn't until the last half hour of a two hour practice that they scrimmaged one another and ran plays.

Lucas's nose was on fire. He couldn't quell the itch that plagued him as he dribbled the ball down the court. " _Hh-hihhsh!_ " His slight pause and suddenness of the sneeze made him lose control of the ball, and Nathan, who was on the other team, stole the ball and scored. Lucas groaned and chased after the ball.

" _HEHH'ETCHhoo!_ " The sneeze caught Lucas off guard and he had just enough time to jump out of the way before the ball smacked him in the face and it bounced onto the ground.

"Lucas!" Whitey called.

Lucas snapped his head towards Whitey. "Yes, sir?"

"You aren't getting sick on me before the big game, are you?"

"No, sir. I'm fine." Lucas sniffled lightly and started to chase after the ball again to try and redeem himself for the past two failed plays.

From the cheerleader side of the court, Haley couldn't take her eyes off of Lucas. She could see that he's struggling and concerned that he's coming down with something. It would be one thing for him to play with a cold tomorrow night, but it's a completely different thing for him to try and play with a cold and his HCM.

"Haley, pay attention!" Brooke called her back to focus as they ran through their routine once again. She couldn't help that her focus kept shifting back to Lucas. She could see him trying to hide three sneezes when he thought nobody was looking, not to mention that he looked practically drained early in English. Lucas rubbed his head and went jogging over with the rest of the team to the locker rooms.

"Earth to Haley!" Brooke called out, annoyed.

"What?" Haley responded. Brooke just rolled her eyes.

"She said we're going to run through the routine one last time and then we can go." Peyton told her. She knew the easiest way to deal with her stressed best friend's coaching was to just help get everyone to pay attention to what she was saying.

By time they had ran through the routine again, Lucas was heading out of the locker room. Haley ran to catch up to him. "Give me a ride to the diner? Please?" she half-asked, half-demanded.

He smiled, "You're just friends with me for my…" he trailed off and turned his head away, coughing to the side for a moment, hoping it wasn't bad enough for her to say anything."Excuse me. You're just friends with me for my car" he joked.

"Drat! You've figured it out." Haley joked back as she wrapped an arm around his waist, giving him a quick side-hug as they exited the gym towards the car. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Lucas responded as he threw his and Haley's stuff in the backseat. It wasn't long before he pulled up beside the café to let her out.

"Are you coming in for dinner?" She asked as she pulled her bag out.

"Nah, I think I'm just going to eat at home, It's been a long day. Need me to pick you up tomorrow morning?"

"No, Nathan's going to take me."

Lucas nodded. "Bye, Hales. See you tomorrow." He waved her off and headed home.

Thankful that the café wasn't too far from his home, because he was so worn out, he pulled into the driveway, grabbed his stuff and immediately went to his room upon entering the house. He didn't have too much homework as he was ahead in English and his political science teacher had forgotten to assign them any so he just had some calculus problems and a chemistry worksheet. Knowing his calculus and chemistry teachers didn't assign much work, he laid down on his bed to take a nap.

When he awoke it was dark out. His clock read 10:47 pm. _Crap,_ Lucas thought. He sat up too fast and winced, his headache from earlier was still there. He knew he wouldn't be able to do his homework with this headache, so he went into the kitchen and grabbed two aspirin, and made himself a sandwich before heading back to his room to begin his homework.

" _Hh'EHSHhhieh! Hah'tSHOoo!_ " Lucas groaned, frustrated. The aspirin had done nothing to stop his pounding head, and he couldn't stop sneezing. It was so hard to focus. Glancing at his clock he saw it was almost 1:00 am. He only had a few more chemistry problems, and if he could just concentrate, he could be in bed soon.

But he couldn't concentrate, that was his problem. He finally crawled into bed around 1:30 am and was out like a light right when his head even hit the pillow.

The obnoxious beeping of the alarm woke him up once again at 7:00 am. He felt terrible. His head hurt, his throat hurt, his nose felt like it had been filled with a block of cement, and he just felt all over achy and tired. He wanted to skip school, but he knew Whitey's rules about attending school to play in games. If he didn't get his butt up and get to class, he would have to sit out.

He tried to find where his mom kept the cold medicine, but he honestly had no clue where it was. It was pretty rare that either of them actually got sick. Giving up his search, he just took two more aspirin and headed to school.

When he got there, Haley was waiting for him at his locker.

"You look terrible." She commented, concerned.

"Well, isn't that just what every guy wants to hear." Lucas said a bit hoarsely, before coughing into the crook of his arm.

"Oh, whatever. You know what I mean." Haley sassed back. "Really, though. You should be at home resting. Not here, spreading your germs to everybody."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, really. Hey, where's Nathan?" He asked, trying to change the subject off of him.

"Morning workout." She replied softly as she gave Lucas a once-over making sure he wasn't going to keel over on her. The bell rang, interrupting her thoughts, and Lucas waved goodbye as he headed to class.

By the time Haley saw him again in fifth period, he looked even worse than before, if that was even possible. He was pale and appeared to be shivering a bit as he took his seat. Class seemed to drag on forever. About halfway through the class, Lucas took her attention away from the teacher. She could see his shuddering shoulders, his breath quickening, him pinching his nose, and the pained expression on his face as he attempted to stifle some sneezes and failed. The attempt to try and quiet his sneezes must've caused his headache to worsen though because when it was over he didn't even open his eyes for a few seconds and his head was scrunched up tight. He eventually opened his eyes and blushed a brilliant shade a red when he saw that he had the attention of a few students. Haley quickly turned her attention back to the teacher before Lucas could see that she had looked at him. She knew he'd be embarrassed if anyone had seen him, that's why he had attempted to stifle them all despite the pain it brought.

When the bell rang, Haley tried once again to approach him. "You sure you're okay, Lucas? I don't need you collapsing on me because if I have to give you mouth to mouth, I think I'd be scarred for life." She joked, feigning that she would be sick.

"Hales, I'mb fide, I promise. If I wasn't, do you think I'd be lying to you?" He smiled, flashing her his bright baby blue eyes. They looked a little glazed over today, probably due to a blooming fever.

"Whatever you say, I guess I'll see you later? Brooke will kill me if I'm late to practice again." Haley waved him off and hurried to cheerleading practice.

Glancing at the clock, Lucas sprinted to the locker room. He did not want to be late and have to face the punishment of running laps. He threw his stuff in his locker and changed as fast as possible before sprinting into the gym. Winded from all the running, he began to cough and had to take a moment to breathe before joining the team. Gratefully, he had beat Whitey there, so he wouldn't have to run extra laps.

They did however, have to run laps as their warm-up, and he was coughing hard by time Whitey called them to a stop.

"Lucas!" Whitey called him to attention.

"Yes, coach?" He paused and silently prayed that Whitey wouldn't send him home.

"You okay, son?" Whitey looked him over, concerned for the boy who was almost like a son to him.

"Yes, sir, just got something in my throat." Lucas smiled slightly, hoping it would get the coach off his back.

"Well, go get some water then, boy. Don't need you passing out on me." Whitey turned his back to him to discuss drills to the other players, and Lucas left to get a drink from the water fountain in the hall.

When he got back he could see Haley eyeing him from across the gym, so he smiled at her and jogged back over to the team.

They ran a lot of passing drills as that's what they needed to work on from the last game.

" _Heh'HTSHhh! EHh'shh'uh!_ " The ball hit Lucas in the chest, causing him to cough, as he was already distracted from the force of the sneezes.

The drill continued for about ten more minutes before Whitey finally dismissed the boys for a water break. "Lucas, stay behind a second."

Nathan glanced back at him as he followed the rest of the team out into the hall, but Lucas waved him off. "Yes, coach?"

"Sit down, son." Whitey patted to the bench right beside him. "Now I don't want to hear any arguing from you." Lucas opened his mouth as if to begin to talk, but Whitey held up his hand, silencing him. "You need to go home and get some rest. You can play next time if you're feeling better. I'll see you on Monday."

"But coach, there might not be a next game! And besides that I'm fine!" Lucas tried to raise his voice at him, but it just came out hoarse and did nothing to support his argument.

"No, you're sick, and I don't need you infecting the whole team. If we do win, we'll need everyone in top condition for the finals. Now go on." Whitey waved him off.

Lucas sighed in exasperation, knowing there was no use in arguing with him, and headed off towards the locker room.

Haley, who had been watching the whole scene unfold, figured he had been sent home. "Brooke…" she began.

"Go on, take care of my boy." Brooke smiled at her and waved her off.

"Thank you." She said gratefully as she headed off.

"Tell Lucas to call me tomorrow!" Brooke yelled after her.

Haley met Lucas at his car. She stood on the drivers side, knowing that Lucas probably shouldn't be driving.

"Haley? What are you doing?" Lucas asked when he got there.

"Driving you home. What does it look like I'm doing? So hand over the keys."

"Haley, I can drive myself home. Besides, shouldn't you be inside practicing?" He asked as he tried to get into the car, but Haley blocked his way.

"Nope, Brooke told me I could go. Besides, I know how useless you are when you get sick, and I know that your mom and Keith are gone, and you also don't like being alone when you don't feel well, even if you don't admit it."

He sighed, giving up the keys and getting into the passenger side. He swore sometimes Haley was more of a mother than his best friend, but he loved her all the same and he was glad she was always there for him when he needed her.

Haley had started talking about her day and Nathan, and Lucas tried to listen. He was usually a really good listener, but today he was just so tired and sick that he fell asleep before they had even left the school. Not that Haley noticed, she was too focused on not crashing Lucas' car.

When she pulled up to their house and put the car in park she looked over to find Lucas asleep, leaning against the window, spiky, blonde hair a bigger mess than usual, breathing with his mouth open.

She leaned over and gently rested the back of her hand on his forehead, then slid it down to his cheek. No surprise, he was unnaturally warm and was probably running quite the fever. She gently shook his shoulder and he woke up with a start.

'Wha—? Sorry, Hales." He blushed, realizing he had fallen asleep while she was talking.

"Yeah, now I know how you really feel about my stories. Apparently they bore you to sleep." She smiled.

"It's about time you figured it out." Lucas joked back.

Haley made a mock gasp of outcry and playfully slapped his shoulder. At least he wasn't feeling bad enough to stop joking around with her.

They grabbed their stuff and headed into the house. "You. Bed. Now, mister." Haley demanded playfully and pointed her finger towards his room.

"Yes, ma'am." Lucas replied with a dramatic eyeroll and sulk.

"I expect to see you in pajamas and under the covers by the time I get in there, and so help me, if you're naked, I will throw up!" She hollered after him.

Lucas laughed, thinking about how funny that would be and began putting on a pair of sweatpants and his favorite "Keith's Body Shop" sweatshirt.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Haley scoured the drawers for some medicine and the thermometer. She couldn't find anything except for aspirin, and then it dawned on her. It was in Lucas' mother's room. Last time she was sick, her parents were out of town, and Lucas had brought her to his house. She remembered his mom walking into her room to get something, it must have been medicine.

She found the thermometer and some cold medicine in the bathroom, then made her way back towards the kitchen to fix him a glass of water. Hearing the harsh sounds of coughs coming from Lucas' bedroom, she hurried up.

"Open up!" Haley said as soon as he had finished coughing.

"Is this really necessary?" He asked, eyeing the devil thermometer. He didn't get sick often, but what he remembers of that thermometer is that it always felt freezing and uncomfortable under his tongue, plus it always seemed to take forever.

"Yes, now open." She went and sat on the edge of the bed beside Lucas and stuck the thermometer in his mouth upon him opening up. While she was waiting for the thermometer to finish reading, she opened up the package of Nyquil and handed him a dose of two capsules, along with the water.

The thermometer beeped just as she had finished handing him the items, Lucas tried to take the thermometer out of his mouth first so he could see the reading, but Haley was faster and got a hold of it first. "102.2, guess you really are hot." She smirked.

"Always" he croaked. They had no romantic feelings for each other whatsoever, but they loved each other as best friends and were always looking out for each other.

Haley watched him take his medicine. "Why don't you get some sleep, and I'll go see if I can pick you up some chicken noodle soup from your mom's café "

Lucas nodded and nestled under the covers, too tired to fight her. She turned out the light and went to go pick up the soup. She was happy to find him still asleep when she got back and so she set the soup on the counter and then went to move the small tv from his mom's room into his room. Apparently she was making too much noise trying to hook up the tv because when she finally plugged it in and turned around, he was staring at her.

"What are you doing?"

"I thought maybe we could watch a movie tonight."

"Actually, can we listen to the game first?"

"Geez, after all that hard work I put in for you and you won't even let me watch a chick flick?" she pretended to be outraged but smiled and tuned his radio to the local station where Mouth was broadcasting the starting lineup. She went into the kitchen and brought him back a bowl of soup and a glass of his favorite juice, apple.

After handing it to him, she kicked off her shoes and found an extra pair of sweatpants that were lying around and changed before climbing on top of the bed beside him to listen to the game.

"There's blankets in the hall closet." Lucas told her and began to get up to get her one.

"No, no you stay here. I'll go." She left and came back bearing a huge, patterned quilt that she covered herself and Lucas with before laying back against the pillows.

They didn't listen to much of the game before they fell asleep. It was comforting to Haley to sleep with her head on Lucas' chest ,listening to his steady heartbeat, sure that his HCM wasn't going to kill him anytime soon.

It was close to midnight when his mother and Keith arrived home. It was strange to see the kitchen light on, and even stranger when they opened the door to the kitchen to see no one in it and all the cabinets open and a few things turned over inside. Assuming an intruder, Keith told Karen to stay there and make sure nothing was missing.

Nothing was missing, and upon checking Lucas' room he whisper yelled for Karen to come over. The sight that met her was nothing short of precious. The two were curled up together, with Haley resting on Lucas' chest and Lucas' arm draped loosely around her. Karen went over and gave them each a kiss on the forehead. Haley and Lucas had been inseparable practically since birth, she was almost like a second mother to Haley. It didn't take an expert to realize that Lucas' forehead was a lot hotter than Haley's. She saw the Nyquil and thermometer and soup on the table.

"Is he okay?" Keith asked.

"I'd say he was in pretty good hands." Karen smiled as she turned around and turned out the lights before exiting the room.


End file.
